Ephesians 1: 3-14 & Mark 6: 14-29 Put Down or Praise
by Rev. David Coster
It never fails to amaze me that when someone disagrees with another, they attempt to put them down, ridicule them, or make them look like an idiot. Parliament is one of the worst places for this. It is as if, somehow, it is not about what is in the best interests of the country but how can one Member of Parliament get one up on a member on the opposite side of the House. It seems to be a game of winners and losers. Rarely do we ever hear praise for something positive one of the members of another Political Party has done, unless it is when they are exiting Parliament.
As parents we can, at times, respond to the negative behaviour of our children rather than praising them for the positive things they do and achieve. At times we also can respond negatively to our wife or husband focusing on what annoys us rather than what thrills us. How often do we hear “You idiot” rather than “That is an idea worth considering.”
Praise and reward don’t always come easily. Criticism and rebuke can sometimes be our default position – especially if we have had a hard day.
As a society who do we honour and praise? Who receives the accolades and the rewards, the acknowledgment and the glory? It seems to me that it is often those involved in the Military, Politics, Business, and leadership of Business groups. I acknowledge that many who have had long service in community organisations are acknowledged with honours, but the praise and highest honours seem to go to those who have been successful in the military, politics, and business.
What do you think? Is my assessment correct?
It can be hard to stand against the prevailing ethos of honour and praise. The Prophet Amos was one of those who did. His prophecy reads like today’s News. He lived under King Jeroboam II who reigned in Israel for 41 years. His reign was characterised by territorial expansion, aggressive militarism, and unprecedented economic prosperity. Guess who received the praise and the rewards.
The people interpreted their good fortune as God’s favour. Amos says that the people were very religious and sincere. But it was a privatised religion for personal benefit and gain. The successful ones received the rewards and honours, but the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the refugees were ignored. How did the religious leaders of the day react? As they were on the make and receiving praise for their support of the status quo they supported Jeroboam and his leadership.
Onto the scene comes Amos – a shepherd farmer and tender of fig trees from Tekoa, about twelve miles southeast of Jerusalem. The cultured elites and those in power despised him. The ones who were praised by the political and religious leaders were the ones whom Amos challenged. He openly confronted them and their lifestyle, describing how the rich made their wealth on the backs of the poor; he condemned their high-priced luxury homes; he called strongly into question their sexual ethics and morality and said that the corrupt legal system favoured those who could afford it. His strongest words were reserved for the Priests who sanctioned the values and way of life of the nation. It was a society where the ‘prosperity gospel’ loomed large.
The response of the Priests was to run him out of town. Faith in God was reduced to nothing but supporting the status quo, the wealthy and those in political, economic, and military power for that is where the rewards came from.
Are we any better in our world today?
During World War II in Germany, there was the German Christian Movement that supported Nazi ideology; in South Africa the Dutch Reformed Church supported apartheid; in Russia Orthodox Priests collaborated with the KGB, and today Patriarch Kirill or Cyril, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church is no different.
A close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Kirill has described Putin’s rule as “a miracle of God”. According to Putin, Kirill’s father baptized him. During his tenure as Patriarch of Moscow and all of Rus’, Kirill has brought the Russian Orthodox Church closer to the Russian state.
Kirill has lauded the Russian invasion of Ukraine, justifying the war as a struggle against “forces of evil”. The World Russian People’s Council under his leadership described the conflict as a “Holy War“. Clergy in other Orthodox Churches have condemned his remarks.
In the Southern USA, the Evangelical Churches are very ardent supporters of Donald Trump, for he finds it favourable to him, politically, to support their theological viewpoints.
Today we don’t have to look far to see “thugocracies” active in Myanmar, North Korea, ISIS, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Russia, and many other states. In Europe, a number of democracies are moving to the political far right.
Who receives the rewards and praise? Those who support the regime!
They would be better to listen to what Solomon, the Son of King David of Israel wrote in Proverbs 28: 6: “Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be crooked in one’s ways even though rich.”
In our reading from Ephesians Paul presents us with a different way of viewing our life together and whom we should acknowledge as being worthy of praise.
What he says basically is this: Praise is the main business of Christians- praise of God in church on Sunday and praise of God through the week in our words and deeds. As Christians, we are those who witness, serve, act, obey, and testify as acts of praise to a God who has so richly blessed us in Christ.
If you listen well to what Paul says all of the action is God’s action, not ours. God is the subject of all of the verbs – God blessing, choosing, destining, adopting, bestowing, redeeming.
Can it be that, as Walter Brueggemann wrote in Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism “prosperity causes amnesia?” The more we have the more we see it as a reward for our own work and we forget God. What do you think?